 All right, keep your place there in Genesis 25. You know, I had all these flashlights prepared for yesterday. I thought we were going to be hiking in the dark. The lights went out, and I was like, oh, I had all these flashlights. We could have had flashlight church. That would have been fun. Yeah, I thought we were going to run out of time on the hiking trip, so we all had head lamps and everything. We were ready to hike in the dark. And as far as bears, I mean, I proved that I can outrun Angel. That's all I need to know as far as bears go. So. How did he count? Brother, you had a five-second head start. OK, all right, we're not going to discuss it. OK. OK, we're preaching on First Corinthians 5.11. First Corinthians 5.11. We're in the boot series. We're talking about the six sins that will get you kicked out of church. So far, let me just read it for you, First Corinthians 5.11. But now I've written on to you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or a covetous, or idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. With such and one, know not to eat. So here we see we've already gone through fornication. We've already gone through being covetous. We've already gone through being a railer. We've already gone through being a drunkard. We have extortion and idolatry left. So tonight, we're going to talk about being an extortioner. Now, how do you preach a sermon on extortion? I mean, that was my first thought when I started reading this. And at first glance, extortion, that word that we know, it brings up a certain definition in our modern vernacular. And the modern definition of extortion is the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats. It's obtaining basically benefit through coercion. You think about the shakedown of the shop owner by the mafia or something like that when you think about extortion. Extortion can also refer to political corruption and selling one's influence. Extortion, which is not limited to the taking of property, involves installation of fear that something will happen to the victim if they do not comply with the extortioner's will. You could consider what people are accusing the president of the United States of today of being sort of extortion, like asking for favors from a country and by withholding money, in that kind of case, it's a form of that. I'm not saying that happened or didn't. I don't even care about that. But that's the modern definitions of extortion. Now, in Genesis chapter 25, we see sort of a version of this with what Jacob did to Esau. And if you look down at verse number 29, let's reread the story. And the Bible says, in Jacob saw a potage, poor Esau, by the way. I mean, let me just turn there myself. But I mean, talk about the baby pictures that you never wanted anyone to see. I mean, the guy's first verse in the Bible that describes him is, you know, this, and the first came out all red over like a hairy garment. I mean, the poor guy, you know what I mean? It's like, that's his welcome to the Bible, you know? It's like, wow. But anyway, so Jacob, and then, you know, Jacob does this to him. In verse number 29, the Bible says, and Jacob saw a potage, and Esau came from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, feed me I pray thee with that same red potage, for I am faint. Therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, behold, I am at the point to die. And what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, swear to me this day, and he swearing to him, and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and potage of lentils, and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. So here he's had Esau come in from the field, and I know that Esau is not guiltless here, because it says that he despised his birthright. But Jacob definitely took advantage of the situation. The man was beyond hungry, to the point where he said, whether he was physically ready to die or not, we don't know, but he basically said, he was in a bad place, and Jacob took advantage of that. And he took something from him out of that. Now Jacob was basically withholding his aid from his brother in order to gain financially. He extorted it out of him in a sense. So you say, what is a birthright? Basically a birthright, if you look at these two boys, that Esau was born seconds before Jacob, so he was the elder. He did have what was called the birthright. The birthright was considered a double portion of the inheritance. So if you look at Isaac's whole wealth, his inheritance that he would leave to his two boys, if that's all the people that would get that inheritance, basically it would be cut in three pieces. Esau would get two, Jacob would get one. So he would get a double portion. So instead, now Jacob would get the double portion. So he took something financially from his brother. Okay? He took that from him. We see other versions of extortion type situations in the Bible. In 1 Kings chapter 20, we see that the king of Syria was trying to threaten Ahab and he said, unless you give me all your wives and your silver and your gold, I'm going to destroy you and I'm gonna take over and I'm gonna kill everybody and all this type of thing. So you say, how could this apply to us? How could someone get thrown out of church for extortion? How could extortion actually exist in a church like this? No one's gonna be threatening to kill anybody. They don't give them money. You know, I've never seen that happen in a church. I've seen a lot of silly things happen in a church but never that, okay? But turn to Ezekiel 22 and I'll show you how this can apply today. I've never actually seen anyone thrown out of church for extortion but I've actually seen what I will call Christian extortion happen in churches, okay? Turn to Ezekiel chapter 22 and we'll see how this can apply to us today. Ezekiel chapter 22. And look at verse number 12. And the Bible says in Ezekiel chapter 22 and verse number 12, in thee have they taken gifts to shed blood, thou hast taken usury and increase and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion. And as forgotten me sayeth the Lord. Verse 13, behold therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made and at thy blood which thou hast been in the midst of thee. So here we see the Bible is equating extortion with dishonest gain. Extortion with dishonest gain. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter two. So extortion can be considered, you know, dishonest gain especially from your neighbor, your brother, okay? And before we can talk about dishonest gain, I first wanna tell you what, and show you what the Bible says about honest gain. Honest gain. So turn to Ecclesiastes chapter two. Ecclesiastes chapter two. If you go to the book of Psalms, Song of Solomon, and then right before Song of Solomon is Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes chapter two, look down at verse number 24. So you see that, you know, the Bible is pre, you know, the Bible is telling us that dishonest gain equals extortion. Is the same as extortion. So extortion fits in that category of dishonest gain. There's many things that we could put in this big category of dishonest gain, but extortion is one of those subcategories, okay? In Ecclesiastes chapter two, we see that there is something taught in the Bible about honest gain. Okay, about honest gain. Look at verse number 24. In Ecclesiastes two, verse 24, the Bible says, there is nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink, that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw that it was from the hand of God. So it says that from his labor is, you know, the good of his labor is from the hand of God. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter five. Ecclesiastes chapter five, just a couple chapters over. Let's look at some more examples of honest gain in the Bible. Ecclesiastes chapter five in verse 18, the Bible reads, behold, that which I have seen, it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun. All the days of his life which God giveth him, for it is his portion. Every man also to whom God have given riches and wealth and have given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God. So we see that there's an honest gain. There's nothing wrong with working hard and gaining. The Bible calls that the gift of God, the fruits of your labor. In Psalm 128, I'll just read it for you. The Bible says, Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways, for thou shall eat the labor of thine hands, happy shall thou be, and it shall be well with thee. So there's nothing wrong with enjoying the fruit of your labor in this life, okay? The Bible says in Psalms that as long as you fear God and you work hard honestly, enjoy the fruit of your labor. The Bible teaches that. It's a gift from God, but you have to remember that when you work hard, you fear God, you work hard, and you enjoy the fruit of your labor that it is a gift from God. Don't get this idea that oh, this is something that I did, and it's all because of me, and I'm so great, because then you fall into that trap of pride that we talked about this morning once again. So rejoice in your labor. There's kind of a culture in this country that I don't like seeing where it's going, where anybody that has done well must somehow be bad. Some company that does well and has grown and has gotten big is somehow bad or evil just because they're good at what they do. No, there's nothing wrong with having a business, working hard, and enjoying the fruit of your labor. So don't be that guy. Generally, it's a cop-out. People that don't wanna work and do hard work and get honest gain themselves, they like to play down people that do. That's what I've found to be the truth. So we see that, I just wanna point out, I don't wanna spend a lot of time on this, but the Bible teaches that there's an honest gain. And then it teaches that there's dishonest gain. Now dishonest gain could be a sermon series for several weeks, but extortion, in Ecclesiastes 22, is called out as one of those categories of dishonest gain, as extorting your neighbor. Now, let's talk about dishonest gain. Taking advantage of people, that's what this is. Dishonest gain. Now first, let me tell ya, the turn to 1st Corinthians chapter six, and let's look at Christian extortion. Let's call it that, Christian extortion. Now here's the problem with church. You're like, problem with church, what do you mean? The problem with church is that we are commanded to be a certain way towards our brothers and sisters. It's not a problem, it's what the Bible teaches. I'm saying that tongue in cheek. We are commanded to be long suffering. We are the perfect people to extort, or to take advantage of. I mean, we're the perfect people to do it. The true Bible believing Christian is very easy to take advantage of, especially by another brother or sister in Christ. And so that's the danger here. So that's what I wanna talk about tonight. Look at 1st Corinthians chapter six and verse number seven, and I'll show you why. 1st Corinthians chapter six and verse number seven. Now Paul is talking here about people that are suing each other, that Christians that are suing each other, taking each other to law, but I wanna apply it elsewhere as well. Now therefore there is utterly fault among you because you go to law with one another. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Turn to Matthew five. But basically the Bible is teaching here that before you get in an argument and go to the law and go to sue your brother or whatever, even having an argument with your brother, it is better to just suffer yourself to be defrauded. That's the best. I mean, as what the Bible teaches me to do when you treat me a certain way, I'm to just suffer myself to be defrauded. So on the end of the person who's being taken advantage of, I'm really kinda commanded to suffer myself to be defrauded, okay? Now in Matthew chapter five, look at verse number 41, and we'll start reading in verse number 41. We'll see just more commands on how we're supposed to respond to people as Christians. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain, go with him too. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not away. You have heard that have been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy, but I say to you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. So look, on the individual basis, the church, this church, is full of people that are willing to help. People. And you know, that can turn into something that people can get taken advantage of. Unfortunately. The worst example I've seen with this personally was at a church that we were at, not in California. And it's the most extreme case I've seen yet. And I was literally at this church, let me just let me give you an example of this, because I've seen it in the church. A guy is, we're in a circle of guys in fellowshiping after church, and he's saying, he's like, oh yeah, I have this thing, it could be cancerous. And I need this ultrasound or whatever it was. And I'm like, whoa, that's bad. I'm like, are you gonna get that looked at when you're gonna get in to look at that? And he's like, well, the ultrasound is $400. And I just can't afford that right now. And I'm like, brother, go get the test, right? And I pulled him aside after the conversation. I was like, hey, I gave him 400 bucks, go get the test done. I mean, it might be, it's your brother for crying out loud, right? So he goes, a week goes by, I see him a week later, and I was like, hey, did you get the test? Did you get the test? And he's like, oh no, it was, I can't even remember the excuse he gave, but it was no big deal. I didn't really need to get the test, all that. It's just like, so the check is cashed, and that's just, that was the end of it. And I'm like, okay, you know. I'm just gonna suffer myself to be defrauded. I mean, there was several examples of this, not just with us, but other people. It was his wife, we don't have any food. I don't know what we're gonna do this week. I mean, fellowship after church, I don't know what we're gonna do this week. We don't have any food for the kids. So I mean, people were just going out and getting them food, right? Because what in the world? You don't have anything to eat? So people are buying them food, paying their bills, all this kind of stuff. I mean, this is the worst I've ever seen it. And I've never seen it in a good church. But personally, we are supposed to suffer ourselves to be defrauded, right? Like this is why I was talking to Brother Perry out soul winning today. This is why I was such a horrible landlord. Cause I'm like, I'm good at some things. Being a landlord is not one of them. Because the people would be like, well, you know, my cousin died, or my uncle died, or my parakeet died. And that's why I can't pay the rent this week or next week. And I'm like, you know, I'm 95% sure they're lying to me. But there's that 5% where I'm like, maybe their uncle did die and killed their parakeet or whatever it was. You know, so I'm just like, I'll just suffer myself to be defrauded for a couple of weeks. And then, you know, they wrecked the house and all this kind of stuff, right? But look, ultimately folks, what I'm trying to get here is lines do need to be drawn. Lines do need to be drawn. You can't just get defrauded constantly, okay? But I'm trying to just get across to you that as a general people, in this Bible-believing church, we are going to be easy to take advantage of by our brothers and sisters especially. So if we get somebody in the church that just is constantly taking advantage, you know, it could become a problem. Because that's the nature of who we are. Now the church itself, I'm starting to realize, you know, why churches need to have policies on things. You know, a lot of things you don't really realize until you actually get into the ministry, this is one of them. You know, we're not just going to hand out money to people. Ever. And we will have people ask that. And we will not, people come to a church thinking they can just get things from the church. And you know, one thing that I've learned being in this role, especially underneath Pastor Jimenez, is that we are to be very careful with the church's funds. There's many times when Pastor, I will call Pastor and I'll say we need this and this is how much it costs. And he will say to me several times this has happened. He will say to me, can you find a cheaper option? And so I will continue looking and I will find a cheaper option. So we need to be careful with the church's funds as leaders and we need to draw lines in these types of areas. You know, the camera wasn't working, we figured out we could buy a $10 battery and a $4 cord and keep it going for another year. Things like that, you don't like the red carpet? Too bad, it's not going anywhere. I actually like it, it's growing on me. You know, we're not gonna be remodeling the building any time soon because we're just not gonna do things that don't really matter right now. I mean, we're growing a church where the first works isn't having an awesome sound booth or whatever, you know? I mean, so, but the church needs to have policies so the funds of the church that is God's is protected. Okay, and ultimately in our personal lives, we need to have some lines as well. Okay, and I'm gonna show you why. Go back to Ezekiel. So you say, well, you know what? I just get taken advantage of all the time. I just don't know. I can't, you know, I don't know what to do. Well, let's look, go to 1st Timothy, chapter five and keep your finger in Ezekiel. But let's look at 1st Timothy, chapter five first. Let's look at what the Bible says about who deserves our help. I mean, who actually, you know, does the Bible say deserves help, you know, from the church? And in 1st Timothy, chapter five, you know, the Bible gets pretty detailed about this. Look down at verse number nine. The Bible says in verse number nine, let not a widow be taken in the number under three score years old having been the wife of one man. Right there, we eliminated like, you know, 99% of everyone in the United States. I mean, it's like number one, there's no men. Number two, you have to be a widow. So there goes most of the women. And number three, you have to be at least 60 years old. And you can't even be, you know, married more than one time. So if you've had more than one husband, I'm sorry. You know, you say, that's pretty strict. But wait, there's more. Look down at verse number 10. Well reported of for good work. So you say your works don't matter in your life. It matters for this lady. Well reported of for good works. If she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. You know, how have you lived your life? They're looking at these women and they're like, how did they live their life? So they found a 60 year old widow. And they're like, okay, but has she been married more than once? Was she serving the Lord like her whole life? And if that's the case basically, you know, then maybe we'll think about it. I mean, that's pretty strict rules here. As far as who they are to, you know, support. Look at verse number 11. But the younger widows refuse. From what they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry. That kind of fits into this morning sermon. Having damnation because they have cast off their first faith. And with all they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house. And not only idle, but tattlers also. And busy bodies speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary, to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them and let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. So basically what he's saying is that you're supposed to take care of your own family. So the rest of the widows, they're gonna have family that are gonna take care of them. This is the basis of 1st Timothy 5-8. If any provide not for his own, he is worse than an infidel. It's in the context of widows, but it applies to your whole family. Because if you're supposed to take care of a widow that you're related to, you're definitely supposed to take care of your own children. I mean, you can just infer that, all right? But look, the point I'm trying to make here is this is the kind of personal responsibility taught in the Bible. And it is a completely foreign concept today. That's why biblical servitude that we talked about a few weeks ago or a couple weeks ago, it's just a foreign concept today. People can't understand it. What, I have a debt and I actually have to pay it off? I actually have to work to like, fix something that I broke? Or I stole something and I have to pay it back? It's weird today. It's a foreign concept. If we suddenly implemented this in the US, like probably an entire generation of people would die. Or they would, you know, go to work, one of the two. But I mean, I'm trying to get you to understand that as far as people taking advantage of you, the Bible draws a pretty seriously strict line on who deserves help. Okay, so look back at 1 Timothy 5, 11. If you wanna know how to handle people that you don't wanna take advantage constantly of you. And the word you're looking for here is refuse. That's how you do it. You say no. You can say no to people that are taking advantage. You know, they will marry in the case of 1 Timothy 5, 11. They will marry. In the case of somebody constantly taking advantage in the church, they will find a way to get their own money, or their own food, or their own $400, or whatever it is. And they will stop taking advantage. You will stop that bad behavior, basically. Look, this is why welfare is so evil. Welfare is evil. It destroys people. Look, I didn't grow up around big cities, but let me tell you where I did grow up. I grew up around Indian reservations. And let me tell you something. The worst thing, and I'm not gonna get political about it, but the worst thing we ever did to the Native Americans was create the reservation system. And that is biblical, what I just said. Because we took whatever you wanna say about the settlement of the United States, we, for the next hundreds of years, we destroyed them as a people by implementing this reservation system. Because those areas in North Dakota are dens of alcoholism, and child abuse, and the most horrible abuse you could actually think of with women and children. The foster care system in North Dakota is just full of Native American kids. And that's just the ones that they know about. I mean, it's terrible. People don't even go there, it's so bad. And it's no different in inner cities, it's not about the Native Americans, we're all of one blood, we know that. It's about the system of just handing people something for nothing, it ruins them. It destroys them, it's evil. So when you sit here and you constantly let people take advantage of you, and you constantly are giving and giving, and giving to people who need to get for themselves, you could actually be hurting them. It's what I'm trying to get, on a micro level. I mean, we see the macro level of the welfare system in the United States. That's a macro level of what I'm talking about here. It's the same thing, it's the same thing. They will marry, they will get a job, it's no different. Now, turn back to 1 Corinthians 5-11. When you refuse, and you start saying no to people who take advantage, it's the equivalent of 1 Corinthians 5-11. It's the equivalent of someone being put out of the church. They're being chastised, they're being, you know, you're encouraging them to get right. You're actually helping them. It's the same philosophy, Fia, as delivering them unto the Satan for the destruction of the flesh, as 1 Corinthians 5-11 says. When somebody gets thrown out of church, it's not that we never want to see them again. We throw them out of church and we don't fellowship with them, so they'll get right and they'll come back, and they won't waste their whole life. It's the same thing. Somebody constantly wants to take advantage, take advantage, take advantage. No, get it right, do it yourself. Get right, become who you're supposed to be as a Christian. These are brothers and sisters doing this to each other. And it's why it works so well for people because on the receiving end, you have these people who are just suffering themselves to be defrauded, and I'll go with you two miles, and I'll give you my coat also. That's what they're doing on that side, okay? But lines need to be drawn. I'm trying to get you to understand even on that side to help your brother. Look, let's have a Verdi Baptist culture moment again, okay? This, look, one day in a good friend of mine from Sacramento, we were talking, he has his own business, and he told me how much money he needs to make every day in order to keep the machine of his family running, if you know what I'm saying. How much money his labor has to bring in to pay his taxes, his business fees, his materials, all these types of things. And I mean, I was kind of blown away. I was like, whew, you know, because he's not a rich man. And you know, but he's telling me this, and he told me that number, and look, this is why I would never even think about asking him to do anything for me, ever. Because look, I'm not messing with that. I'm not messing with that. I'm not literally taking food off his table. I mean, what kind of man would I be if I would do something like that? That's the kind of, keep a log in your mind about where, what people, I mean, if somebody does you a favor, pay it back. I'm not saying you're never gonna need a favor. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Everybody needs a help in hand every now and then. There's nothing wrong with asking a brother or sister a favor, but I personally will always air on the side of caution here. I always wanna do more for you than you will do for me. And we should have that culture here. We should have that culture. Look, if this guy ever did any work for me, I knew we would be caught in this weird back and forth of him trying to do stuff for me, and then I'd try to, it'd just be this weird battle. And I didn't want any part of it, and neither did he. I mean, it was just a great mutual friendship. Whenever he did a small thing for me, I'd do something for him, and he'd do something. I mean, that's a great friendship to have. I've mentioned this before. That's the culture we wanna have here. We always wanna do more for each other than we feel people are doing for us. That would be a great culture of a church. Okay? So look, I don't have a huge long sermon tonight, because this is a pretty simple thing, right? But the bottom line is, if you don't fit the category of someone who deserves help, and let me just scan the, no one in here does. Okay? And people are constantly doing things for you. You know, you're taking advantage. You know, you say I don't like hearing this. Well, you know, welcome to church. Amen. So let's think about this. Let's think about, you know, this culture that we wanna have here, and how we wanna be to each other. I should always wanna do more for you than you do for me, and vice versa, right? I mean, that's a great relationship. That's a great brotherhood that we would have, and a great sisterhood that we would have. And ultimately, look, I've never seen it. I've never seen someone get, you know, thrown out of church for something like this. But you know what, anything's possible. I mean, if I've learned anything in the last few years, is that anything is possible. And let's make sure that we're not, you know, we understand what honest gain is. The Bible's very clear that honest gain is okay. It's okay to go out and work hard, and get a job, and save some money, and go buy a car for yourself. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, I mean, I'll be the first one to say congratulations. You know, there's nothing wrong with working hard, and growing your business, and moving your family into a nicer neighborhood. Nothing wrong with that at all. That's, you know, that's great. The Bible says that, but don't forget that it's not you that did it. It's your, you feared God, you did what he told you by working hard, and it's a gift from God. I remember I worked on a farm when I was younger, and I remember the guy that I worked for, and he was a devout Catholic, and I actually, you know, would go to church with him every now and then to his Catholic Mass, and you know, it was, you know, I was a kid, you know, I was like 12, 13 years old. Don't look at me like that. But I'd go to this Catholic Mass, and he was like this really devout Catholic, and he was a hardworking farmer, and I remember he's told me something that stuck with me in my head to this day, and you know, we came back, and we were out on the farm working, and we were talking about, I was talking about how strange some of the things they did at church were, you know, the kneeling and the stuff, everywhere is weird, you know? And he said to me, he's like, you know, he's like, I go to church, and I do what I'm supposed to do. He's like, but God doesn't put food on my table. That's what he said. And you know, that's just one of those things that just stuck with me forever, because you know what? You fear God. That's the only thing you should fear. You work hard, you do what you're supposed to do, but everything that you are given is a gift from God. And if God takes it all away in one day, like he took it away from Job, you say, naked I came in, naked I go out. Because it's a gift, you don't deserve it. But the Bible does teach that if you work hard, there's nothing wrong with honest gain. But let's be careful about taking advantage of our Christian brothers and sisters, because guess what? Most of them will let you take advantage of them. So let's just not have that in this church. Let's keep a good culture here. Okay, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Bible. We thank you for just this wisdom that we can pull from, Lord. We just ask you that you bless this church, you grow this church, help us have the right culture in this church where we're trying to do for each other, Lord. We're trying to do more and more for each other and not the other way around, Lord. And just keep us aware of that. And we love you, Lord. Please bless the rest of our evening and the fellowship to come. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.